Modern portable consumer and industrial electronics provide increasing levels of functionality to support modern life including location-based information services. This is especially true for client devices such as navigation systems, cellular phones, portable digital assistants, and multifunction devices.
Numerous technologies have been developed to utilize this new functionality. Some of the research and development strategies focus on new technologies. Others focus on improving the existing and mature technologies. Research and development in the existing technologies can take a many of different directions.
As users adopt mobile location based service devices, new and old usage begin to take advantage of this new device space. There are many solutions to take advantage of this new device opportunity. One existing approach is to use location information to provide navigation services, such as a global positioning service (GPS) navigation system for a mobile device. However, location reading systems can have inaccuracies that can impair a navigation system.
In response to consumer demand, navigation systems are providing ever-increasing amounts of information requiring these systems to handle more and more data. This information includes map data, business data, local weather, and local driving conditions. This information can change quickly requiring that navigation systems can update the data sources to remain current. For example, a navigation system needs to have access to current information relating to traffic accidents or changing weather conditions. The demand for more information and the need to remain current continue to challenge the providers of navigation systems.
Thus, a need remains for a navigation system to efficiently utilize available information, and to facilitate rapid modifications to the information. In view of the need to have accurate information, even incremental information having updates, it is increasingly critical that answers be found to these problems. In view of the ever-increasing commercial competitive pressures, along with growing consumer expectations and the diminishing opportunities for meaningful product differentiation in the marketplace, it is critical that answers be found for these problems. Additionally, the need to reduce costs, improve efficiencies and performance, and meet competitive pressures adds an even greater urgency to the critical necessity for finding answers to these problems.
Solutions to these problems have been long sought but prior developments have not taught or suggested any solutions and, thus, solutions to these problems have long eluded those skilled in the art.